The creative brain: where genius resides

Several research studies have found that the brains of creative people are different.

Creativity is a complex process that requires the activation of several brain areas. So far it is not entirely clear whether creativity requires a specific neural architecture or not. The research team of cognitive neuroscientist Roger Beaty at Harvard University seems to have found differences in the brains of highly creative people.

Their research revealed three strongly connected neural networks involved in the creativity process in the parietal and parietal cortexes in the parietal and prefrontal cortexes. This study has begun to identify the processes of controlled thought and spontaneous ideas. Everything seems to indicate that creativity in a person could be predictable from the strength of his or her neural connections in these three networks.

Mapping the creative brain

According to this study, creativity or creative thinking would involve three distinct neural networks working at the same time. They are the following.

The default neural network

This is the one involved in the processes of imaginationIt is involved in daydreaming or when our mind wanders without an object of attention. It is distributed in the medial area of the temporal, parietal and prefrontal lobes. It seems that it could play a fundamental role in the generation of ideas and in possible solutions for their execution.

The executive control network

It is linked to the evaluation of ideas in order to determine whether they fit the creative goal. It is a set of regions that are activated when we need to control thought processes or focus our attention. focus our attention. Includes the anterior cingulate gyrus. It appears to provide important connections between components of attentional processing.

The relevance neural network

This network acts as a switching mechanism mechanism of alternation between default and executive control networks..

Keys to understanding creativity

It is possible that creative people are able to activate at the same time these brain systems that do not normally work together. Although the keys to understanding the process of creativity do not seem to lie only in large-scale neural networks.

Our brain arranges the stimuli we receive through our senses into through our senses into what we might call "blocks of information". Every time we receive new information, new neural networks are created that are immediately related to existing information. We create mental models from which we can easily extract the necessary information to solve questions that may arise later.

The problem is that, although they are very useful to solve tasks without too much previous analysis, some of these blocks become so rigid that they are very difficult to modify. Creativity basically does what it does challenge these rigid neural networks and give rise to creative and imaginative thinking.

The creative personality

Researchers such as Mayers or Taylor proposed certain traits of the creative personality. The most creative individuals employ divergent thinkingthat is, several solutions to the same problem. They possess intrinsic motivation and are more tolerant of ambiguity and risk, rather than functioning more automatically.

On the other hand, creative subjects are less interested in the practical aspects of life.They tend to have a good sense of humor and respond better in general to disorder. In addition to seeing things from the same point of view as other people, they also see things differently. They can work on several things at the same time and have a great curiosity.

Are they born with it or can they be trained?

The latest research is yielding fascinating results on the process of creativity. Despite this, this question is still unanswered today. We are beginning to get an idea of the neurological basis of this process, and it seems that the creative brain is wired differently. is wired differently, but we do not yet know why.but we do not yet know why.

More research is needed in the future to determine whether these neural networks are fixed or whether the mind can be trained to become creative. It has been suggested from various quarters that creative writing, art or music training could modify the neural connections. However, for the time being, the question remains open.

Author: Sonia Budner.